The long national Democratic nightmare is over, and the thing is, it doesn' t matter

APDonna England of Ashland, Ky, takes part in a rally in support of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., near the site of the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee hearing on Saturday, May 31, 2008, in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)

And so now we know our fate, Democratic National Convention-wise.

The Democratic Party's national rules and bylaws committee met Saturday and decided that Michigan and Florida delegates would be seated (I'm glad. A convention's a long time to stand.)
in Denver come August, but only half their votes will count. Got it?

Great. Can we go back to our lives now?

If you sense I'm over the drama of the whole delegate question, you'd be right. Took a while, though.

I was ticked back in January after the DNC ruled that the Michigan vote essentially didn't count. As a voter, I felt -- and still feel -- disenfranchised, especially since my guy, Barack
Obama, didn't appear on the ballot.

I wanted to vote for him, even if it didn't count. (Yes, I could have voted "uncommitted," which amounted to the same thing as voting for Obama, but I'm a committed kinda guy. Ask my
wife. She can't get rid of me. I even commit to underwear. I have pairs that date back to the
first Bush administration.)

To be sure, I'm still annoyed at the Democratic Party. Why, l wonder, didn't the DNC limit its punishment to state party officials instead of invalidating the votes of an entire state?

They're the ones who wanted the change. Make them run laps around the state capitol, if
you must. Take away their seats. Rip the superdelegate "S" off their chests.

But why punish voters? What'd we do?

Anyway, I might still be miffed about all this if it weren't for the fact that none of it matters any more.

Obama's delegate lead is insurmountable. He'll be the party's guy, barring something unforeseen, such as Hillary Clinton pulling a "Carrie" stunt and drenching Obama with
pig's blood as he accepts the nomination. (Like you'd put it past her.)

My point is, I'm over it. I think others are, too. We got screwed. That's it. It happens in life. Especially in politics.

The truth is, this still only matters to Mrs. Clinton (I worry about the maintenance guys who will have to sand out the fingernail marks she'll leave as she's dragged off-stage), to the media, which has a vested interest in prolonging tiffs, and to the worry-warts who think disenfranchised voters may punish as they were punished and vote for John McCain in November.

Reasonable fear, but they forget two things.

One, the primary is like the football preseason. Once it's over, it's over. No one cares about the primary after the real game begins. Two, this election isn't about John McCain. It's not even about Barack Obama.